Parallel duplicate primitive vertex detection and batching

ABSTRACT

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for detecting duplicate vertex indices in parallel and batching indices defining multiple primitives for parallel primitive processing. A lookback cache breaks the dependent loop for the miss processing. Because each index is compared to all previous indices (duplicate or not), each index is not dependent on whether the previous indices have hit or missed. This allows the comparison operation that detects the duplicate vertex indices to be fully pipelined. The duplicate vertex indices are removed to reduce the number of indices that define the primitives in the batch. Multiple, independent rasterizer units operate concurrently on the different batches of graphics primitives to render multiple primitives per system clock.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority benefit to United States provisional patent application titled, “Parallel Duplicate Vertex Index Detection and Batching,” filed on Oct. 14, 2009 and having Ser. No. 61/251,627.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to graphics processing and more specifically to the parallel detection of duplicate vertex indices and batching of the vertex indices for primitive processing.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventional graphics processors have processed primitives at a rate of one triangle per clock while maintaining the applications programming interface (API) specified primitive order. Graphics primitives, such as triangles are received in an ordered stream for processing. The DirectX and OpenGL APIs require that the primitive order be maintained, that is to say, the primitives must be rendered in the order presented by the application program. This requirement ensures that intersecting primitives will be rendered deterministically to avoid the introduction of visual artifacts. Additionally, the primitive order is maintained since the results of rendering a later primitive may be dependent on the state of the frame buffer resulting from rendering an earlier primitive, particular when blending is used.

While some graphics processors have used parallelism to increase processing throughput, these systems typically do not maintain primitive ordering at full speed. Alternatively, these systems operate at slower rates, well below one triangle per clock, when primitive ordering is maintained. In order to process more than one triangle per clock the system needs to organize multiple vertices into primitives at a rate of more than three vertices that are each referenced by indices per clock. The vertex data is stored in a cache that is accessed using the indices. Typically, a content addressable memory (CAM) is used to compare the incoming indices with the existing indices of the vertex data that is resident in the cache. Performing a comparison of three or more indices in a single clock is difficult since each subsequent index must be not only compared with the existing indices, but must also be compared with the previous incoming indices. A critical timing path for determining whether or not the last incoming index is a cache hit or miss limits either the clock rate or the number of indices that may be compared in parallel. Consequently, the number of triangles (specified by the vertex indices) that can be processed in parallel may be limited by the parallel vertex index comparison operation.

Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system and method for exceeding a processing rate of one triangle per clock while maintaining API primitive ordering. In order to exceed the primitive processing rate of one triangle per clock, multiple primitives must be assembled for processing in a single clock cycle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method detects duplicate vertex indices in parallel and batches vertex indices that define multiple primitives for parallel primitive processing. A lookback comparison breaks the dependent loop for the miss processing during the parallel comparison operation for the vertex indices. Because each vertex index is compared to all previous indices (duplicate or not), each index is not dependent on whether the previous indices have hit or missed. This allows the comparison operation that detects the duplicate vertex indices to be fully pipelined. The duplicate vertex indices are removed to reduce the number of vertex indices used to define the primitives in a batch. Multiple, independent rasterizer units then operate concurrently on the different batches of primitives to render multiple primitives per system clock.

Various embodiments of a method of the invention for generating a batch specifying multiple primitives defined by vertex indices include receiving a set of input vertex indices that reference vertex data and inserting the set of input vertex indices into a sequence of previously received vertex indices to update a history list of vertex indices. Each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices is then simultaneously compared with each previously received vertex index in the history list of vertex indices and each preceding input vertex in the set of input vertex indices to produce history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index. A number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch are identified based on the history list hit/miss results. The number of input vertex indices are assembled into slots to produce the batch, where any duplicate input vertex indices reference a slot storing a previous instance of the duplicate input vertex. The batch is output for processing to produce rasterized pixel data for each primitive defined by the number of input vertex indices in the batch.

Various embodiments of the invention include a system for generating a batch specifying multiple primitives defined by vertex indices. The system includes a slot assignment unit that is configured to generate a batch specifying multiple primitives defined by vertex indices include receiving a set of input vertex indices that reference vertex data and inserting the set of input vertex indices into a sequence of previously received vertex indices to update a history list of vertex indices. Each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices is then simultaneously compared with each previously received vertex index in the history list of vertex indices and each preceding input vertex in the set of input vertex indices to produce history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index. A number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch are identified based on the history list hit/miss results. The number of input vertex indices are assembled into slots to produce the batch, where any duplicate input vertex indices reference a slot storing a previous instance of the duplicate input vertex. The batch is output for processing to produce rasterized pixel data for each primitive defined by the number of input vertex indices in the batch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system configured to implement one or more aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a parallel processing subsystem for the computer system of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a GPC within one of the PPUs of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a partition unit within one of the PPUs of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3C is a block diagram of a portion of the work distribution crossbar of FIG. 3A, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a graphics processing pipeline that one or more of the PPUs of FIG. 2 can be configured to implement, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of method steps for rendering primitives while maintaining API primitive ordering, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6A illustrates the slot assignment unit, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6B illustrates a block diagram of the index sorting stage of the slot assignment unit, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6C illustrates a block diagram of the batch unit of the slot assignment unit, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6D illustrates a block diagram of the batch pack unit of the slot assignment unit, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of method steps for detecting duplicate vertex indices and batching the vertex indices for parallel primitive processing, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

System Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 100 configured to implement one or more aspects of the present invention. Computer system 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 102 and a system memory 104 communicating via an interconnection path that may include a memory bridge 105. Memory bridge 105, which may be, e.g., a Northbridge chip, is connected via a bus or other communication path 106 (e.g., a HyperTransport link) to an I/O (input/output) bridge 107. I/O bridge 107, which may be, e.g., a Southbridge chip, receives user input from one or more user input devices 108 (e.g., keyboard, mouse) and forwards the input to CPU 102 via path 106 and memory bridge 105. A parallel processing subsystem 112 is coupled to memory bridge 105 via a bus or other communication path 113 (e.g., a PCI Express, Accelerated Graphics Port, or HyperTransport link); in one embodiment parallel processing subsystem 112 is a graphics subsystem that delivers pixels to a display device 110 (e.g., a conventional CRT or LCD based monitor). A system disk 114 is also connected to I/O bridge 107. A switch 116 provides connections between I/O bridge 107 and other components such as a network adapter 118 and various add-in cards 120 and 121. Other components (not explicitly shown), including USB or other port connections, CD drives, DVD drives, film recording devices, and the like, may also be connected to I/O bridge 107. Communication paths interconnecting the various components in FIG. 1 may be implemented using any suitable protocols, such as PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), PCI-Express, AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), HyperTransport, or any other bus or point-to-point communication protocol(s), and connections between different devices may use different protocols as is known in the art.

In one embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112 incorporates circuitry optimized for graphics and video processing, including, for example, video output circuitry, and constitutes a graphics processing unit (GPU). In another embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112 incorporates circuitry optimized for general purpose processing, while preserving the underlying computational architecture, described in greater detail herein. In yet another embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112 may be integrated with one or more other system elements, such as the memory bridge 105, CPU 102, and I/O bridge 107 to form a system on chip (SoC).

It will be appreciated that the system shown herein is illustrative and that variations and modifications are possible. The connection topology, including the number and arrangement of bridges, the number of CPUs 102, and the number of parallel processing subsystems 112, may be modified as desired. For instance, in some embodiments, system memory 104 is connected to CPU 102 directly rather than through a bridge, and other devices communicate with system memory 104 via memory bridge 105 and CPU 102. In other alternative topologies, parallel processing subsystem 112 is connected to I/O bridge 107 or directly to CPU 102, rather than to memory bridge 105. In still other embodiments, I/O bridge 107 and memory bridge 105 might be integrated into a single chip. Large embodiments may include two or more CPUs 102 and two or more parallel processing systems 112. The particular components shown herein are optional; for instance, any number of add-in cards or peripheral devices might be supported. In some embodiments, switch 116 is eliminated, and network adapter 118 and add-in cards 120, 121 connect directly to I/O bridge 107.

FIG. 2 illustrates a parallel processing subsystem 112, according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, parallel processing subsystem 112 includes one or more parallel processing units (PPUs) 202, each of which is coupled to a local parallel processing (PP) memory 204. In general, a parallel processing subsystem includes a number U of PPUs, where U≧1. (Herein, multiple instances of like objects are denoted with reference numbers identifying the object and parenthetical numbers identifying the instance where needed.) PPUs 202 and parallel processing memories 204 may be implemented using one or more integrated circuit devices, such as programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or memory devices, or in any other technically feasible fashion.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, some or all of PPUs 202 in parallel processing subsystem 112 are graphics processors with rendering pipelines that can be configured to perform various tasks related to generating pixel data from graphics data supplied by CPU 102 and/or system memory 104 via memory bridge 105 and bus 113, interacting with local parallel processing memory 204 (which can be used as graphics memory including, e.g., a conventional frame buffer) to store and update pixel data, delivering pixel data to display device 110, and the like. In some embodiments, parallel processing subsystem 112 may include one or more PPUs 202 that operate as graphics processors and one or more other PPUs 202 that are used for general-purpose computations. The PPUs may be identical or different, and each PPU may have its own dedicated parallel processing memory device(s) or no dedicated parallel processing memory device(s). One or more PPUs 202 may output data to display device 110 or each PPU 202 may output data to one or more display devices 110.

In operation, CPU 102 is the master processor of computer system 100, controlling and coordinating operations of other system components. In particular, CPU 102 issues commands that control the operation of PPUs 202. In some embodiments, CPU 102 writes a stream of commands for each PPU 202 to a pushbuffer (not explicitly shown in either FIG. 1 or FIG. 2) that may be located in system memory 104, parallel processing memory 204, or another storage location accessible to both CPU 102 and PPU 202. PPU 202 reads the command stream from the pushbuffer and then executes commands asynchronously relative to the operation of CPU 102.

Referring back now to FIG. 2, each PPU 202 includes an I/O (input/output) unit 205 that communicates with the rest of computer system 100 via communication path 113, which connects to memory bridge 105 (or, in one alternative embodiment, directly to CPU 102). The connection of PPU 202 to the rest of computer system 100 may also be varied. In some embodiments, parallel processing subsystem 112 is implemented as an add-in card that can be inserted into an expansion slot of computer system 100. In other embodiments, a PPU 202 can be integrated on a single chip with a bus bridge, such as memory bridge 105 or I/O bridge 107. In still other embodiments, some or all elements of PPU 202 may be integrated on a single chip with CPU 102.

In one embodiment, communication path 113 is a PCI-EXPRESS link, in which dedicated lanes are allocated to each PPU 202, as is known in the art. Other communication paths may also be used. An I/O unit 205 generates packets (or other signals) for transmission on communication path 113 and also receives all incoming packets (or other signals) from communication path 113, directing the incoming packets to appropriate components of PPU 202. For example, commands related to processing tasks may be directed to a host interface 206, while commands related to memory operations (e.g., reading from or writing to parallel processing memory 204) may be directed to a memory crossbar unit 210. Host interface 206 reads each pushbuffer and outputs the work specified by the pushbuffer to a front end 212.

Each PPU 202 advantageously implements a highly parallel processing architecture. As shown in detail, PPU 202(0) includes a processing cluster array 230 that includes a number C of general processing clusters (GPCs) 208, where C≧1. Each GPC 208 is capable of executing a large number (e.g., hundreds or thousands) of threads concurrently, where each thread is an instance of a program. In various applications, different GPCs 208 may be allocated for processing different types of programs or for performing different types of computations. For example, in a graphics application, a first set of GPCs 208 may be allocated to perform tessellation operations and to produce primitive topologies for patches, and a second set of GPCs 208 may be allocated to perform tessellation shading to evaluate patch parameters for the primitive topologies and to determine vertex positions and other per-vertex attributes. The allocation of GPCs 208 may vary dependent on the workload arising for each type of program or computation.

GPCs 208 receive processing tasks to be executed via a primitive distribution unit 200, which receives commands defining processing tasks from front end unit 212. Processing tasks include indices of data to be processed, e.g., surface (patch) data, primitive data, as well as state parameters and commands defining how the data is to be processed (e.g., what program is to be executed). Primitive distribution unit 200 may be configured to fetch the indices corresponding to the data, or primitive distribution unit 200 may receive the indices from front end 212. Front end 212 ensures that GPCs 208 are configured to a valid state before the processing specified by the pushbuffers is initiated.

When PPU 202 is used for graphics processing, for example, the processing workload for each patch is divided into approximately equal sized tasks to enable distribution of the tessellation processing to multiple GPCs 208. A primitive distribution unit 200 may be configured to produce tasks at a frequency capable of providing tasks to multiple GPCs 208 for processing. In some embodiments of the present invention, portions of GPCs 208 are configured to perform different types of processing. For example a first portion may be configured to perform vertex shading and topology generation, a second portion may be configured to perform tessellation and geometry shading, and a third portion may be configured to perform pixel shading in screen-space to produce a rendered image. Intermediate data produced by GPCs 208, such vertex attributes, may be stored in buffers to allow the intermediate data to be transmitted between GPCs 208 for further processing.

Memory interface 214 includes a number D of partition units 215 that are each directly coupled to a portion of parallel processing memory 204, where D≧1. As shown, the number of partition units 215 generally equals the number of DRAM 220. In other embodiments, the number of partition units 215 may not equal the number of memory devices. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that DRAM 220 may be replaced with other suitable storage devices and can be of generally conventional design. A detailed description is therefore omitted. Render targets, such as frame buffers or texture maps may be stored across DRAMs 220, allowing partition units 215 to write portions of each render target in parallel to efficiently use the available bandwidth of parallel processing memory 204.

Any one of GPCs 208 may process data to be written to any of the DRAMs 220 within parallel processing memory 204. Crossbar unit 210 is configured to route the output of each GPC 208 to the input of any partition unit 215 or to another GPC 208 for further processing. GPCs 208 communicate with memory interface 214 through crossbar unit 210 to read from or write to various external memory devices. In one embodiment, crossbar unit 210 has a connection to memory interface 214 to communicate with I/O unit 205, as well as a connection to local parallel processing memory 204, thereby enabling the processing cores within the different GPCs 208 to communicate with system memory 104 or other memory that is not local to PPU 202. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, crossbar unit 210 is directly connected with I/O unit 205. Crossbar unit 210 may use virtual channels to separate traffic streams between the GPCs 208 and partition units 215.

Again, GPCs 208 can be programmed to execute processing tasks relating to a wide variety of applications, including but not limited to, linear and nonlinear data transforms, filtering of video and/or audio data, modeling operations (e.g., applying laws of physics to determine position, velocity and other attributes of objects), image rendering operations (e.g., tessellation shader, vertex shader, geometry shader, and/or pixel shader programs), and so on. PPUs 202 may transfer data from system memory 104 and/or local parallel processing memories 204 into internal (on-chip) memory, process the data, and write result data back to system memory 104 and/or local parallel processing memories 204, where such data can be accessed by other system components, including CPU 102 or another parallel processing subsystem 112.

A PPU 202 may be provided with any amount of local parallel processing memory 204, including no local memory, and may use local memory and system memory in any combination. For instance, a PPU 202 can be a graphics processor in a unified memory architecture (UMA) embodiment. In such embodiments, little or no dedicated graphics (parallel processing) memory would be provided, and PPU 202 would use system memory exclusively or almost exclusively. In UMA embodiments, a PPU 202 may be integrated into a bridge chip or processor chip or provided as a discrete chip with a high-speed link (e.g., PCI-EXPRESS) connecting the PPU 202 to system memory via a bridge chip or other communication means.

As noted above, any number of PPUs 202 can be included in a parallel processing subsystem 112. For instance, multiple PPUs 202 can be provided on a single add-in card, or multiple add-in cards can be connected to communication path 113, or one or more of PPUs 202 can be integrated into a bridge chip. PPUs 202 in a multi-PPU system may be identical to or different from one another. For instance, different PPUs 202 might have different numbers of processing cores, different amounts of local parallel processing memory, and so on. Where multiple PPUs 202 are present, those PPUs may be operated in parallel to process data at a higher throughput than is possible with a single PPU 202. Systems incorporating one or more PPUs 202 may be implemented in a variety of configurations and form factors, including desktop, laptop, or handheld personal computers, servers, workstations, game consoles, embedded systems, and the like.

Processing Cluster Array Overview

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a GPC 208 within one of the PPUs 202 of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Each GPC 208 may be configured to execute a large number of threads in parallel, where the term “thread” refers to an instance of a particular program executing on a particular set of input data. In some embodiments, single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) instruction issue techniques are used to support parallel execution of a large number of threads without providing multiple independent instruction units. In other embodiments, single-instruction, multiple-thread (SIMT) techniques are used to support parallel execution of a large number of generally synchronized threads, using a common instruction unit configured to issue instructions to a set of processing engines within each one of the GPCs 208. Unlike a SIMD execution regime, where all processing engines typically execute identical instructions, SIMT execution allows different threads to more readily follow divergent execution paths through a given thread program. Persons skilled in the art will understand that a SIMD processing regime represents a functional subset of a SIMT processing regime.

The primitive distribution unit 200 distributes processing tasks to each TPC 310 within the GPCs 208 via crossbar unit 210. In particular the primitive distribution unit 200 distributes primitives for object-space (geometry) processing by the TPCs 310. A pipeline manager 305 within each GPC 208 distributes the object-space processing tasks to streaming multiprocessors within each of the TPCs 310. Pipeline manager 305 may also be configured to control a work distribution crossbar interface 330 to distribute state parameters and commands to the TPCs 310 for object-space processing and screen-space processing.

In one embodiment, each GPC 208 includes a number M of TPCs 310, where M≧1, each TPC 310 configured to process one or more thread groups. Also, each TPC 310 advantageously includes an identical set of functional execution units (e.g., arithmetic logic units, and load-store units, and the like) that may be pipelined, allowing a new instruction to be issued before a previous instruction has finished, as is known in the art. Any combination of functional execution units may be provided. In one embodiment, the functional units support a variety of operations including integer and floating point arithmetic (e.g., addition and multiplication), comparison operations, Boolean operations (AND, OR, XOR), bit-shifting, and computation of various algebraic functions (e.g., planar interpolation, trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions, etc.); and the same functional-unit hardware can be leveraged to perform different operations.

The series of instructions transmitted to a particular GPC 208 constitutes a thread, as previously defined herein, and the collection of a certain number of concurrently executing threads across the parallel processing engines (not shown) within an TPC 310 is referred to herein as a “warp” or “thread group.” As used herein, a “thread group” refers to a group of threads concurrently executing the same program on different input data, with one thread of the group being assigned to a different processing engine within a TPC 310. A thread group may include fewer threads than the number of processing engines within the TPC 310, in which case some processing engines will be idle during cycles when that thread group is being processed. A thread group may also include more threads than the number of processing engines within the TPC 310, in which case processing will take place over multiple clock cycles. Since each TPC 310 can support up to G thread groups concurrently, it follows that up to G*M thread groups can be executing in GPC 208 at any given time.

Additionally, a plurality of related thread groups may be active (in different phases of execution) at the same time within a TPC 310. This collection of thread groups is referred to herein as a “cooperative thread array” (“CTA”) or “thread array.” The size of a particular CTA is equal to m*k, where k is the number of concurrently executing threads in a thread group and is typically an integer multiple of the number of parallel processing engines within the TPC 310, and m is the number of thread groups simultaneously active within the TPC 310. The size of a CTA is generally determined by the programmer and the amount of hardware resources, such as memory or registers, available to the CTA.

Each TPC 310 contains an L1 cache 335 or uses space in a corresponding L1 cache outside of the TPC 310 that is used to perform load and store operations. Each TPC 310 also has access to L2 caches within the partition units 215 that are shared among all GPCs 208 and may be used to transfer data produced during object-space primitive processing to TPCs 310 to perform screen-space primitive processing. Finally, TPCs 310 also have access to off-chip “global” memory, which can include, e.g., parallel processing memory 204 and/or system memory 104. It is to be understood that any memory external to PPU 202 may be used as global memory. Additionally, an L1.5 cache may be included within the GPC 208, configured to receive and hold data fetched from memory via memory interface 214 requested by TPC 310, including instructions, uniform data, and constant data, and provide the requested data to TPC 310. Embodiments having multiple TPCs 310 in GPC 208 beneficially share common instructions and data cached in an L1.5 cache.

Each GPC 208 includes a network interface 328 that may be configured to map virtual addresses into physical addresses. In other embodiments, the mapping of virtual addresses into physical addresses may be performed within the memory interface 214. A set of page table entries (PTEs) is used to map a virtual address to a physical address of a tile and optionally a cache line index. Address translation lookaside buffers (TLB) or caches which may reside within a TPC 310 or the L1 cache 335 or GPC 208. The physical address is processed to distribute surface data access locality to allow efficient request interleaving among partition units. The cache line index may be used to determine whether or not a request for a cache line is a hit or miss.

A GPC 208 may be configured such that each TPC 310 includes a texture unit 315 for performing texture mapping operations, e.g., determining texture sample positions, reading texture data, and filtering the texture data. Texture data is read from a texture L1 cache or in some embodiments from the L1 cache 335 within TPC 310 and is fetched from an L2 cache, parallel processing memory 204, or system memory 104, as needed.

As previously explained, TPCs 310 receive batches of primitives and perform object-space processing. Each TPC 310 outputs a stream of object-space processed primitive descriptors to the work distribution crossbar interface 330 in order to redistribute the object-space processed primitive descriptors via the work distribution crossbar fabric 334 to one or more GPCs 208 for screen-space processing. A primitive descriptor includes the primitive type (triangle strip, triangle mesh, line, and the like), flags, and indices of vertices. The object-space processing includes one or more of vertex shading, tessellation shading, and geometry shading. The screen-space processing is rasterization of the primitives, and may include one or more of scan conversion, shading, depth/stencil operations, and blending. TPC 310 may also output the object-space processed primitive data, i.e., vertex attributes, for storage in an L2 cache, parallel processing memory 204, or system memory 104 via crossbar unit 210.

A preROP (pre-raster operations) 324 is configured to receive data (screen-space processed primitives) from TPC 310, direct data to ROP units within partition units 215, and perform optimizations for color blending, organize pixel color data, and perform address translations.

It will be appreciated that the core architecture described herein is illustrative and that variations and modifications are possible. Any number of processing units, e.g., TPCs 310, setup units 321, rasterizers 322, or preROPs 324 may be included within a GPC 208. Further, while only one GPC 208 is shown, a PPU 202 may include any number of GPCs 208 that are advantageously functionally similar to one another so that execution behavior does not depend on which GPC 208 receives a particular processing task. Further, each GPC 208 advantageously operates independently of other GPCs 208 using separate and distinct processing units, L1 caches, and so on.

Distributed Object-Space Processing

The application program presents graphics primitives to the parallel processing subsystem 112 serially via the host interface 206. The graphics primitives may be in the form of indexed lists, stored in memory. A rendering “drawcall” is sent serially over the host interface 206 and each drawcall may reference a large list of primitives to be rendered. An important design consideration is the granularity of distributing the primitives to the TPCs 310 for object-space processing. For best load balancing, a fine-grained distribution of individual primitives to the TPCs 310 is desired. However, since primitives are generally encoded as indexed triangle meshes or triangle strips, with vertices shared among multiple triangles, it is advantageous to distribute primitives in multiple-primitive batches, such that triangles that share a vertex are generally in the same batch.

In some embodiments the primitive distribution unit 200 reads a buffer containing indices of vertices in an associated vertex buffer. The indices implicitly define primitives and point to vertex data stored in the vertex buffer. The primitive distribution unit 200 groups the primitives represented by the indices of vertices into batches for distribution to the TPCs 310. The batch encodes a number of sequential primitives represented as a set of vertex indices and primitive topology information, e.g., a list of primitives (either points, lines, triangles, or patches) that reference indices in the set of vertex indices. Batches may include 32 vertex pointers, which is large enough to benefit from vertex reuse, but small enough to balance the parallel geometry processing workload across the TPCs 310 while minimizing buffering needed to store the primitives for processing. The batches may be assigned to the TPCs 310 in the system in a round-robin fashion, e.g., TPCs 310 in a first GPC 208, TPCs 310 in a second GPC 208, and so on or a first TPC 310 in each of the GPCs 208, a second TPC 310 in each of the GPCs 208, and so on, or based on the current loading conditions for object-space primitive processing. The object-space primitive processing comprises geometry processing, including world-to-screen-space transformation, clipping, culling, and vertex shading operations. The result of the parallel object-space primitive processing performed by the TPCs 310 is batches of graphics primitive descriptors that encode transformed vertices defining points, lines, and triangles. The primitive descriptor contains information about the geometric primitive necessary for rendering the pixels covered by the primitives: type of primitive (point, line, triangle), vertex indices that point to buffers storing the vertex attributes, control flags.

The vertex attributes are transferred from the TPCs 310 to the distributed L2 cache via the network interface 328. The vertex attributes may then be read by any of the TPCs 310 that are configured to perform rasterization of the object-space processed primitives.

Distributed Screen-Space Processing

Primitive setup and rasterization are also parallelized over the GPCs 208. Each GPC 208 includes a setup 321, rasterizer 322, and preROP 324. Each GPC 208 is responsible for processing a portion of the screen-space. It is desirable to distribute rasterization in screen-space portions so that shading, texturing, and frame buffer accesses have locality and rasterization of the primitives in each portion may be performed in parallel and independently.

The object-space processed primitive descriptors are routed through the work distribution crossbar fabric to GPCs 208 by the work distribution crossbar interface 330 based on the portion of the image that each object-space processed primitive affects. To make this assignment, the image, called the render target, is subdivided into small “screen tiles,” and the screen tiles are partitioned into non-overlapping sets that cover the image. A different GPC 208 is assigned to each screen tile set. In some embodiments each screen tile set includes statically mapped 16×16-pixel regions and GPC 208 performs setup and rasterization for up to one triangle per clock. A given GPC 208 is configured to rasterize each primitive that covers at least one pixel within the portion of the screen-space assigned to the given GPC 208. Large primitives may be rasterized by every GPC 208 while a small primitive may only be rasterized by one GPC 208.

Setup 321 forwards the edge and depth plane equations for object-space processed primitives to the rasterizer 322. Setup 321 stores partial plane equations in a buffer for subsequent retrieval by the fragment shader, when interpolating other attributes. The rasterizer 322 associated with each setup 321 iterates within the primitive bounding box, guided by the edge equations, to identify tiles with sample coverage. The rasterizer 322 contains a coarse stage, which identifies large tiles that are likely to contain sample coverage and a fine stage, which tests sample locations against edge equations. The rasterizer 322 uses knowledge of the GPC screen tile mapping to skip over tiles assigned for processing by other GPCs 208 in zero time. In some embodiments, a hierarchical Z unit which can rapidly reject tiles that are known to lie behind occluding geometry is included between the two rasterizer stages.

The combination of the work distribution crossbar interface 330 and work distribution crossbar fabric 334 implements a distributed sorting structure that routes primitive data between the GPCs 208. The work distribution crossbar interface 330 routes the parallel streams of object-space processed primitive descriptors from the TPCs 310 performing object-space processing into parallel, ordered streams of primitive descriptors for the GPCs 208 performing screen-space processing via the work distribution crossbar fabric 334. Multiple work distribution crossbar interfaces 330 are coupled together through the work distribution crossbar fabric 334 in order to support multiple GPCs 208. Each work distribution crossbar interface 330 receives a stream of object-space processed primitive descriptors from each TPC 310 that performs object-space processing and routes each object-space processed primitive descriptor to one or more GPCs 208 for screen-space primitive processing via the work distribution crossbar fabric 334. Each work distribution crossbar interface 330 then reorders the primitive descriptors received by each GPC 208 that will perform the screen-space processing to match the API primitive ordering. Since each GPC 208 does not process every primitive, some of the primitive descriptor streams reordered by the GPCs 208 will not include every primitive descriptor that is present in the API primitive ordering. A reordered stream is considered to match the API primitive ordering when the primitive descriptors that are present in the reordered stream are in the same order that the same primitive descriptors appear in the API primitive ordering.

Although the object-space processed primitives are reordered by the work distribution crossbar interface 330 into the API primitive order going to each rasterizer 322, the actual processing of the primitives is physically distributed. That is, there is no single point after primitives pass through the primitive distribution unit 200 through which all primitives flow. Importantly, this distributed implementation of primitive distribution permits the system to distribute multiple primitives per clock, up to a peak rate of a primitive per clock at each rasterizer 322 within a GPC 208. Each setup 321 receives a stream of processed primitives that possibly can affect one or more of its screen tiles. The rasterizers 322 proceed to generate pixel or sample data for their assigned tile sets. Each rasterizer 322 operates independently of the others. There is no need for the rasterizers 322 to stay synchronized with each other, since each one operates on its own separate subset of the image, and thus they are non-interfering.

The rasterized and then shaded fragment data produced by a rasterizer 322 and TPC 310 is collected by the pipeline manager 305 and output to the preROP 324. PreROP 324 is configured to receive the shaded fragment data (screen-space processed primitives) from TPC 310, direct the shaded fragment data to the ROP units within partition units 215, and perform optimizations for color blending, organize pixel color data, and perform address translations.

The overall primitive processing rate may reach up to C triangles per clock, where C is the number of GPCs 208. Therefore the primitive descriptors need to be conveyed to the GPCs 208 through the work distribution crossbar fabric 334 by the work distribution crossbar interface 330 at an aggregate rate of C triangles per clock-C* the input rate of an individual GPC 208. Because the parallel processing subsystem 112 is scalable, systems with higher performance may be built by increasing the number of GPCs 208 and/or TPCs 310 in the parallel processing subsystem 112.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a partition unit 215 within one of the PPUs 202 of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, partition unit 215 includes a L2 cache 350, a frame buffer (FB) DRAM interface 355, and a raster operations unit (ROP) 360. L2 cache 350 is a read/write cache that is configured to perform load and store operations received from crossbar unit 210 and ROP 360. Read misses and urgent writeback requests are output by L2 cache 350 to FB DRAM interface 355 for processing. Dirty updates are also sent to FB 355 for opportunistic processing. FB 355 interfaces directly with DRAM 220, outputting read and write requests and receiving data read from DRAM 220.

In graphics applications, ROP 360 is a processing unit that performs raster operations, such as stencil, z test, blending, and the like, and outputs pixel data as processed graphics data for storage in graphics memory. In some embodiments of the present invention, ROP 360 is included within each GPC 208 instead of partition unit 215, and pixel read and write requests are transmitted over crossbar unit 210 instead of pixel fragment data.

The processed graphics data may be displayed on display device 110 or routed for further processing by CPU 102 or by one of the processing entities within parallel processing subsystem 112. Each partition unit 215 includes a ROP 360 in order to distribute processing of the raster operations. In some embodiments, ROP 360 may be configured to compress z or color data that is written to memory and decompress z or color data that is read from memory.

Persons skilled in the art will understand that the architecture described in FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, and 3B in no way limits the scope of the present invention and that the techniques taught herein may be implemented on any properly configured processing unit, including, without limitation, one or more CPUs, one or more multi-core CPUs, one or more PPUs 202, one or more GPCs 208, one or more graphics or special purpose processing units, or the like, without departing the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 3C is a block diagram of portions of the GPCs 208 including the work distribution crossbar interface 330 of FIG. 3A, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The work distribution unit 330 includes a set of WWDXes 340 which each are coupled to one of the TPCs 310 to receive the object-space primitive descriptors, primitive bounding boxes, attribute buffer addresses, and end of batch flags from the TPCs 310 within a GPC 208. The TPC 310 computes a primitive bounding box for each primitive descriptor and the WWDX 340 receiving the bounding box compares it with the screen-space tiled mapping of the GPCs 208. A primitive bounding box contains the minimum and maximum X and Y screen-space dimensions for the smallest rectangle that completely contains the primitive. Based on the bounding box size and position, the WWDX 340 determines which GPCs 208 might need to process the primitive by intersecting the screen tile set for each GPC 208 with the bounding box. The WWDX 340 sets bits corresponding to the particular GPCs 208 that should receive the primitive in a GPC (distribution) mask. Small primitives (i.e., primitives that affect only one or a few pixels) will generally affect only one screen tile, and thus will be sent to a single GPC 208. Larger primitives, which affect several screen tiles, will be sent to multiple GPCs 208. In the limit, with small primitives, when there are C GPCs 208, the system can process C different primitives concurrently.

The primitive descriptors for a single batch that is processed by a particular TPC 310 are processed and output by the TPC 310 in the API primitive order. However, the different TPCs 310 may process the batches at different rates so that the batches are output from the TPCs 310 in an order that does not match the API primitive order at a batch level. Therefore, an aggregation unit 345 reorders each batch that is received from the WWDXes 340 to match the API primitive order.

The aggregation unit 345 is configured to merge two or more primitive descriptor streams output by the WWDXes 340 and produce a single primitive descriptor stream that is routed by the work distribution crossbar fabric 334 to the GPCs 208 for object-space processing. In some embodiments, the aggregation unit 345 is omitted and the multiple streams of primitive descriptors are combined and output to the work distribution crossbar fabric 334 by the WWDXes 340 or the multiple streams of primitive descriptors are output directly (combined or not) to the work distribution crossbar fabric 334. The combining of the multiple streams may be performed in a variety of ways without regard to matching the API primitive order.

API primitive order information is provided to the aggregation unit 345 by the pipeline manager 305. When the primitive distribution unit 200 sends batches of primitives to TPCs 310 via the pipeline manager 305, the pipeline manager 305 outputs a sequential order of TPCs 310 that received the batches, so that the aggregation unit 345 within each work distribution crossbar interface 330 can reorder the object-space primitives to match the API primitive order and produce an ordered primitive stream for output to the GPCs 208 for screen-space processing. The pipeline manager 305 may also receive a sequential order of GPCs 208 that received the batches from the primitive distribution unit 200 and output the sequential order of GPCs 208 to the primitive order unit 342, so that the aggregation unit 345 and/or SWDX 346 within each work distribution crossbar interface 330 can reorder the object-space primitives that are received by each GPC 208 to match the API primitive order and produce an ordered primitive stream for output to the setup 321 for screen-space processing.

The aggregation unit 345 performs the reordering on outgoing primitive descriptors by accepting primitive descriptors from the TPC 310 corresponding to a current TPC identifier (based on the sequential order provided by the pipeline manager 305) until an end of batch flag is detected in the primitive descriptor stream. The end of batch flag may be a single bit that is set in the last primitive descriptor in each batch and cleared in any other primitive descriptors in the batch. When an end of batch flag is detected, the next TPC identifier in the sequential order becomes the current TPC identifier. The aggregation unit 345 outputs a stream of object-space processed primitive descriptors that is reordered based on the TPC identifiers. The stream output by each individual GPC 208 matches the API primitive order. However, each receiving GPC 208 (configured to perform screen-space processing) may receive primitive descriptors from one or more outgoing streams transmitted by GPCs 208 (configured to perform object-space processing). On the receiving side of the work distribution crossbar fabric 334, the sequence of GPC identifiers may be used by each SWDX 346 to reorder the batches received from different GPCs 208 so that each setup 321 receives an ordered list of the object-space processed primitive descriptors for rasterization.

The outgoing ordered stream of object-space processed primitives output by an aggregation unit 345 over the dedicated work distribution crossbar fabric 334 includes the following primitive data for each primitive: an attribute buffer address, a primitive descriptor, a GPC identifier, a TPC identifier, and an end of batch flag. The GPC identifier indicates the GPC 208 that performed the object-space processing. Likewise, the TPC identifier indicates the TPC 310 that performed the object-space processing. The attribute buffer address is a pointer to a location in memory where the attribute data for the primitive is stored. When many attributes are associated with each primitive, it is advantageous to carry a pointer to the attribute data through the work distribution crossbar interface 330 and work distribution crossbar 334 rather than carrying the actual attribute data. When the WWDXes 340 output multiple primitive streams directly to the work distribution crossbar fabric 334, i.e., the aggregation unit 345 is omitted, the primitive stream includes the GPC mask, a TPC identifier, a GPC identifier, an attribute buffer address, a primitive descriptor, and an end of batch flag.

The work distribution crossbar fabric 334 routes primitive data for one primitive from a GPC 208 configured to perform object-space processing to one or more GPCs 208 configured to perform screen-space processing based on the GPC mask. In some embodiments each primitive is broadcast to each GPC 208 according to the GPC mask in a single clock cycle. In other embodiments, a primitive is output to only one GPC 208 in a clock cycle so that a primitive that is routed to multiple GPCs 208 is output to each one of the different GPCs 208 in a separate clock cycle. The work distribution crossbar fabric 334 may be configured to use a credit/debit scheme to transmit primitive data between the GPCs 208. A receiving GPC 208 outputs credits indicating the amount of primitive data that can be accepted. The work distribution crossbar fabric 334 may also be configured to arbitrate between two or more primitives that are routed to the same GPC 208 in a clock cycle when a GPC 208 can only accept one primitive per clock cycle.

Each screen-space unit 336 has a GPC reorder buffer 344 that receives and stores the primitive data (excluding the GPC mask) output by the work distribution crossbar fabric 334. The GPC reorder buffer may be implemented as a multithreaded FIFO for storing the primitive data with one thread per object-space GPC 208. In other embodiments separate FIFOs may be used for each object-space GPC 208. Primitive data are placed in the appropriate thread, based on the GPC identifier, as the primitives are received via the work distribution crossbar fabric 334. In embodiments that omit the aggregation unit 345, primitive data are placed in the appropriate thread, based on the TPC identifier (and the GPC identifier if the TPC identifiers are not unique across the different GPCs 208), as the primitive data are received via the work distribution crossbar fabric 334.

The SWDX 346 removes the primitive descriptors, attribute buffer addresses, and end of batch flags from the multithreaded FIFO in the order specified by the sequential GPC identifier order provided by the pipeline manager 305 and pushes the primitive descriptors and attribute buffer addresses into an output FIFO. The SWDX 346 starts reading primitive descriptors, attribute buffer addresses, and end of batch flags from the FIFO thread for the first GPC that received a batch of primitive data. When the SWDX 346 sees the end of batch flag set in that FIFO thread, the SWDX 346 starts reading from the FIFO thread of the next GPC 208 that received a batch of primitives for object-space processing, and so forth. Thus, the SWDX 346 pulls primitive descriptors and attribute buffer addresses out of the multithreaded FIFO in the API primitive order, and pushes them into the output FIFO within the SWDX 346 in the API primitive order. The setup unit 321 in the respective GPC 208 pops the primitive descriptors and attribute buffer addresses from the output FIFO for screen-space processing. The output FIFO should be deep enough so that the setups 321 are not starved when many primitives are sent to the same setup 321. In some embodiments each rasterizer 322 can process up to a primitive per clock, matching the rate at which primitive descriptors are output by the setup unit 321.

The assignment of screen tile sets to the rasterizers distributes the rasterization workload. The screen tiles are N×M rectangles of samples within the render target. The choice of tile size is a tradeoff between load balancing, which improves with smaller screen tiles, and overhead, which improves with larger screen tiles. Overhead can take the form of primitives that need to be processed by multiple GPCs 208 because the tile size is too small or reduced texture locality. In one embodiment, the tile size is 16×16 pixels. The screen tiles are assigned to rasterizers 322 in an interleaved fashion to balance the workload across the rasterizers 322. For example, the upper-left corner tiles of the render target might be assigned to four rasterizers 322 corresponding to digits 0, 1, 2, and 3, in the following fashion:

First tile row: 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 . . . Second tile row: 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 . . . Third tile row: 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 . . . Fourth tile row: 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 . . . The exact pattern of tile assignments may be specified by a table or calculated algorithmically, and may vary between different systems. One embodiment uses a skewed, interleaved arrangement, as shown above, with the property that if a primitive bounding box is at least C (C=number of rasterizers 322) screen tiles wide or tall, the primitive must necessarily be distributed to all rasterizers 322. This characteristic may be used to simplify the calculation of the GPC mask.

Graphics Pipeline Architecture

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a graphics processing pipeline 400, that one or more of the PPUs 202 of FIG. 2 can be configured to implement, according to one embodiment of the present invention. For example, one of the TPCs 310 may be configured to perform the functions of one or more of a geometry processing unit 425, and a fragment processing unit 460. The functions of primitive distributer 420, rasterizer 455, and raster operations unit 465 may also be performed by other processing engines within a GPC 208 and a corresponding partition unit 215. Alternately, graphics processing pipeline 400 may be implemented using dedicated processing units for one or more functions.

Vertex data for high-order surfaces, primitives, and the like may be stored in L1 cache 335, parallel processing memory 204, or system memory 104 and accessed as needed to render the primitives. The functions of the primitive distributer 420 may be performed by the primitive distribution unit 200. Primitive distributer 420 receives pointers to primitive index lists stored in memory. The entries in these index lists point into lists of vertex attributes (vertex buffers), also stored in memory. Because primitives are stored compactly and many primitives can be passed to the primitive distributer 420 in a single draw call, indexed primitive lists and vertex buffers are the most efficient way to convey geometry to the graphics pipeline 400. The front end 212 may be configured to store legacy inline and immediate mode vertices in vertex buffers, so the primitive assembler 420 only has to deal with this one, efficient type of primitive input data, namely primitive index lists. In other embodiments the primitive distributer 420 may receive the vertex data instead of pointers to primitive index lists.

In some embodiments, the GPCs 208 are configured to perform tessellation processing prior to geometry processing. In those embodiments the primitive distributer 420 distributes batches of primitives for tessellation processing to multiple TPCs 310 and streams of tessellated primitive batches are produced. The API primitive ordering may be restored prior to object-space processing of the primitives by either using the same TPCs 208 to perform the object-space processing as was used to perform the tessellation. Alternatively, the primitive batches may be reordered to match the API primitive order after tessellation so that batches of primitives for object-space processing are generated and distributed in API primitive order.

Primitive distributer 420 dices the index list into self-contained batches of indices specifying up to J vertices and K primitives, such that each vertex in a strip, after the first two, specifies a new triangle. In some embodiments, J is 32, K is 30, and batches may occupy from one to four 32B data packets, depending on the number and type of primitive and contain the following information: indices of vertices in the vertex buffer and topology information (which vertices in the batch comprise each primitive). Importantly, the primitive distributer 420 works entirely with primitive indices—it does not touch the vertex data itself. The vertex data is later fetched by the TPC 310 assigned for vertex shading.

The bulk of the data transferred (via indices) between geometry processing and rasterization is vertex attributes. These are the parameters calculated for each vertex, such as x, y, z position, texture coordinates, vertex colors, and other shader parameters. Some parameters, such as x, y, z (position) are needed by the rasterizer to determine primitive coverage and depth values. Other attributes are needed, as interpolated values, by the fragment shader. The number and type of attributes depends on the vertex and fragment shaders.

Vertex attributes need to be buffered from the time they are calculated by the TPCs 310 doing object-space processing until they are needed by setup 322 or the fragment processing unit 460. The amount of data that needs to be buffered is highly variable, depending on the number and type of attributes per vertex. The amount of data may be near zero for full-screen primitives and the amount of data may be extremely high in high primitive rate cases. The amount of data may also be highly variable per GPC 208 when a large number of small primitives fall onto a single screen tile.

Because of these potentially large and highly variable buffering requirements, it may be advantageous to store vertex attributes in the L2 cache 350. The L2 cache 350 is a large, pooled resource that is used for many purposes: caching textures, caching rendered pixels, and caching primitive attributes. In high triangle rate cases a greater amount of attribute buffering is needed, so the bulk of the L2 cache 350 may be used to cache attribute data instead of texture data. When requirements for attribute buffering are low, the L2 cache 350 may be used primarily for caching texture data.

Each TPC 310 performing object-space processing is provided with a fixed size linear buffer that is virtually addressed and cacheable. The addresses used to access these linear buffers wrap, so the linear buffers are actually circular FIFO (first-in, first-out) buffers. As TPCs 310 stream vertex attributes into the circular buffers, the TPCs 310 provide indices for entries written to the work distribution crossbar interface 330, which are conveyed to the GPCs 208 performing the screen-space processing. GPCs 208 that need to read circular buffer entries (CBEs) do so at two points: setup and fragment shader interpolation. Entries that are unneeded by a GPC 208 are skipped—not read by the GPC 208, while other entries may be read by multiple GPCs 208.

Because virtual addressing is used for the circular buffers, the full circular buffer may always be allocated, but only cache lines storing valid data need be resident in the L2 cache 350. When CBEs are written to the L2 cache 350, the cache line may be marked with “no-evict” status, so the cache line storing attribute data will not be flushed from the L2 cache 350. The work distribution crossbar interface 330 also has the task of freeing CBEs when the GPCs 208 are finished with them. To achieve this, the rasterizers 322 track the CBEs through the screen-space processing and signals the work distribution crossbar interface 330 when a CBE may be released. The work distribution crossbar interface 330 keeps a count per CBE of how many screen-space pipelines (where a screen-space pipeline includes the setup 321, rasterizer 322, PreROP 324, and TPCs 310) are using the CBE. When this count for a particular CBE goes to zero, the work distribution crossbar interface 330 may release that CBE.

Geometry processing unit 425 is a programmable execution unit that is configured to execute geometry shader programs, transforming graphics primitives received from primitive assembler 420 as specified by the geometry shader programs. For example, geometry processing unit 425 may be programmed to subdivide the graphics primitives into one or more new graphics primitives and calculate parameters, such as plane equation coefficients, that are used to rasterize the new graphics primitives.

In some embodiments, geometry processing unit 425 may also add or delete elements in the geometry stream. Geometry processing unit 425 outputs the parameters and vertices specifying new graphics primitives to a viewport scale, cull, and clip unit 450. Geometry processing unit 425 may read data that is stored in parallel processing memory 204 or system memory 104 for use in processing the geometry data. Viewport scale, cull, and clip unit 450 performs clipping, culling, and viewport scaling and outputs processed graphics primitives to a rasterizer 455.

Rasterizer 455 scan converts the new graphics primitives and outputs fragments and coverage data to fragment processing unit 460. Additionally, rasterizer 455 may be configured to perform z culling and other z-based, optimizations.

Fragment processing unit 460 is a programmable execution unit that is configured to execute fragment shader programs, transforming fragments received from rasterizer 455, as specified by the fragment shader programs. For example, fragment processing unit 460 may be programmed to perform operations such as perspective correction, texture mapping, shading, blending, and the like, to produce shaded fragments that are output to raster operations unit 465. Fragment processing unit 460 may read data that is stored in parallel processing memory 204 or system memory 104 for use in processing the fragment data. Fragments may be shaded at pixel, sample, or other granularity, depending on the programmed sampling rate.

Raster operations unit 465 is a processing unit that performs raster operations, such as stencil, z test, blending, and the like, and outputs pixel data as processed graphics data for storage in graphics memory.

The processed graphics data may be stored in graphics memory, e.g., parallel processing memory 204, and/or system memory 104, for display on display device 110 or for further processing by CPU 102 or parallel processing subsystem 112. In some embodiments of the present invention, raster operations unit 465 is configured to compress z or color data that is written to memory and decompress z or color data that is read from memory.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of method steps for rendering primitives while maintaining API primitive ordering, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Although the method steps of FIG. 5 are described in conjunction with the systems of FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C, persons skilled in the art will understand that any system configured to perform the method steps, in any order, is within the scope of the inventions.

At step 500 the primitives are received by the primitive distribution unit 200 in an API primitive order. At step 505 the primitive distribution unit 200 generates primitive batches of the primitives for parallel object-space (geometry) processing by the TPCs 310. For each primitive batch a TPC 310 receives attribute buffer addresses of vertex buffers and the primitive descriptors that each include the primitive type (triangle strip, triangle mesh, line, and the like), flags, and indices of vertices. The TPC 310 uses the attribute buffer addresses and indices to calculate the addresses of the vertex attributes. The TPC 310 loads vertex attributes from external memory via the L2 cache 350 and crossbar unit 210. A TPC 310 only fetches attributes once per batch, regardless of the number of primitives in the batch that refer to the vertex. Some vertices may be referenced by primitives in multiple batches processed on different TPCs 310. The vertex data will be fetched separately by each TPC 310 over the crossbar unit 210, but the L2 cache 350 will usually retain the vertex data from the first reference, so vertex data is typically fetched from the external memory only once.

At step 510 the primitive distribution unit 200 distributes batches of the primitives for parallel geometry processing by the TPCs 310. At step 515 the TPCs 310 perform object-space processing on the primitives to produce streams of object-space processed primitives. The time to process one vertex is independent of how large the primitive appears on the screen. By distributing geometry processing in vertex batches, the processing load is distributed across the GPCs 208.

At step 520 the TPCs 310 write the vertex attributes that are produced by the object-space processing of the primitives into a circular buffer of the L2 cache 350 via the network interface 328. In some embodiments, the TPC 310 also computes the bounding box of each non-culled primitive and outputs the bounding box with the primitive descriptor and attribute buffer address to the corresponding WWDX 340 within the work distribution crossbar interface 330.

At step 525 a GPC mask is computed for each primitive to classify each primitive based on the screen tile mapping to the GPCs 208. At step 530 each primitive is routed by the work distribution crossbar interface 330 through the work distribution crossbar fabric 334 to the GPC(s) 208 that are indicated by the GPC mask for screen-space processing. Note that multiple streams of object-space processed primitives within a single GPC 208 may be merged by the aggregation unit 345 before being output by the GPC 208. In that case, the primitives are reordered by the aggregation unit 345 to match the API primitive order.

At step 535 the primitives are reordered by SWDX 346 in the GPC 208 to match the API primitive order. At step 540 the vertex attributes needed for screen-space processing of the primitives are read by the setup 321 and TPCs 310 using the attribute buffer address received with each primitive descriptor.

At step 545 parallel sceen-space processing of the reordered primitives is performed by the GPCs 208. The setup units 321 convert vertex attributes into plane equations describing polygon edges, depth values, and other parameters to be interpolated. Setup 321 also computes the primitive bounding box and initialization parameters for the rasterizer 322, and performs various culling operations such as back-face and zero-area culling. Setup 321 receives primitive descriptors in API primitive order from the SWDX 346 within the work distribution crossbar interface 330. Each primitive descriptor is associated with an attribute buffer address, i.e., a pointer to the processed vertex attribute data stored in circular buffers in the L2 cache 350. Setup 321 requests x, y, z position attributes, which are common for all primitives a given type, regardless of the number of additional vertex attributes. When these are returned from the L2 cache 350 via the crossbar 330, setup 321 computes edge and partial plane equations for the primitive. Final plane equations for each attribute are computed by an engine (not shown) using the partial plane equations produced by setup 321. The engine loads the computed final plane equations into a plane-equation RAM that is readable by a fragment shader program that is executed by the streaming multiprocessors within each TPC 310. At step 545 the rasterizer 322 iterates within the primitive bounding box, guided by the edge equations, to identify screen tiles with sample coverage. Rasterizer 322 rasterizes the primitive pixels that lie within the screen-space tile(s) for which the GPC 208 is responsible. The rasterizer 322 advantageously skips over screen tiles that are assigned to other rasterizers 322. In some embodiments the rasterizer 322 is configured to skip over screen tiles in zero time.

The TPCs 310 also execute parallel fragment shaders at step 545. In some embodiments, attributes are only evaluated when requested by the fragment shader allowing interpolation to be performed at any desired x,y location within the pixel, and need not be the same location for each pixel. When an interpolation instruction is executed by the fragment shader, the corresponding plane equation is read from the plane-equation RAM, evaluated at the designated (x,y) location, and division by w performed. A given attribute can be referenced any number of times within a fragment shader program at any desired (x,y) sample location. Attributes that are not requested are not evaluated.

The fragment shader may perform texture, math, or other operations, read or write registers, and read or write global memory. The fragment shader stores its results in color (and optionally z) output registers. Shader output logic pulls final colors from the shader output registers and sends them to ROPs 360 associated with the frame-buffer partitions over the crossbar unit 210. At step 550 the rasterized pixels of an image are output and stored.

The crossbar unit 210 need not maintain ordering among all data packets. The crossbar unit 210 does need to ensure that all data from a particular GPC 208 to a particular ROP 360 is conveyed in order, which it may do using deterministic routing or other methods known to those skilled in the art.

Parallel rendering enables the rendering of multiple primitives per system clock. Object-space primitive processing workload (geometry processing) is distributed across multiple processing cores in order to enable the rendering of multiple primitives per system clock. The object-space processed primitives are distributed across a work distribution crossbar for parallel rasterization. The object-space processed primitives are reordered by the parallel rasterizers to restore the API primitive order before the primitives are rasterized.

Parallel Duplicate Vertex Index Detection and Batching

In order to process more than one triangle per clock the primitive distributor 420 (or work distribution unit 200) needs to organize multiple vertex indices into batches of multiple primitives each clock cycle. A critical timing path for determining whether or not the last input vertex index in a clock cycle is a cache hit or miss limits either the clock rate or the number of indices that may be compared in parallel when a conventional CAM is used. Performing a comparison of many vertex indices in a single clock is difficult since each subsequent vertex index must be not only be compared with the existing indices, but must also be compared with the previous input vertex indices to identify duplicates. Rather than using a conventional CAM to identify duplicate vertex indices in a batch, a slot assignment unit is used within the primitive distributor 420.

FIG. 6A illustrates the slot assignment unit 600, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The slot assignment unit 600 may be configured using control signals to clear a vertex cache that is accessed using the vertex indices. The slot assignment unit 600 is responsible for: checking for duplicate indices, building batches of primitives, vertex indices, and state, and distributing the batches through the crossbar unit 210 to the GPCs 208 for processing.

The slot assignment unit 600 receives a stream of vertex indices that define one or more independent primitives each clock cycle and outputs a stream of batches that includes vertex indices defining multiple primitives. The slot assignment unit 600 is configured to perform multiple vertex index comparisons using a lookback mechanism to break the dependent loop for the miss processing when multiple vertex indices are received in a single clock cycle. Because each input vertex index is compared to all previous indices (duplicate or not) in parallel, each index is not dependent on whether the previous input vertex indices have hit or missed. Therefore, the comparison operation that detects the duplicate vertex indices can be fully pipelined. The duplicate vertex indices are removed to reduce the number of vertex indices used to define the primitives in a batch. Multiple, independent rasterizer units then operate concurrently on the different batches of primitives to render multiple primitives per system clock.

The slot assignment unit 600 includes an index sorting stage 605, a batch unit 610, a batch pack unit 615, and an output unit 620. Slot assignment is the process of transforming the vertex index stream 601 that includes vertex indices defining independent primitives (no shared vertex indices) into self-contained batches of no more than M vertex indices and N primitives that reference those vertex indices. When N is 32, independent primitives of a triangle strip of 32 triangle primitives are defined by 96 separate vertex indices. The slot assignment unit 600 compacts the independent primitives into batches of N primitives by removing duplicate vertex indices. In the case of triangles in strip, the first primitive requires three vertex indices, then the next primitive references two of the previous vertex indices and requires one additional vertex index. In this manner, 30 triangle strip primitives need 90 index references, which reference 32 total vertex indices. In some embodiments, five bit index references may be used to specify up to 32 different primitives in a batch. In some embodiments, primitives cannot reference vertex indices from another batch, so each batch must end on a primitive boundary. Because vertex indices are used to reference the vertex data, duplicate vertex indices in the same batch may be collapsed. Collapsing duplicate vertex indices typically reduces the number of vertex indices in a batch by 50-70%. Reducing the number of vertex indices in each batch reduces the memory footprint needed to store the vertex indices and the bandwidth needed to transfer the vertex indices through the graphics processing pipeline 400.

The index sorting stage 605 includes a lookback mechanism instead of a CAM to provide functionality to check many more vertex indices per clock cycle. The lookback mechanism is able to scale as the number of input vertex indices increases to process multiple primitives in a single clock without increasing the timing critical path delay compared with a conventional CAM. Every input vertex index is compared against the previous n vertex indices. The n previous vertex indices are API primitive order vertex indices with no implied duplicates (i.e., triangle strips are expanded to triangle lists of independent triangles) and duplicate indices in place (i.e., no culling of duplicates yet). The loopback is capable of any mix of hits or misses per cycle, ultimately limited by speed at which the limits M and N can be checked. The slot assignment unit 600 can be modeled as a fully associative cache, when n is equal to the maximum number of vertex indices (duplicate or not) that fit into a batch.

The batch unit 610 assembles the vertex indices into batches, combining previously received input vertex indices with current input vertex indices as needed to generate a batch. Because the batch is limited to n possible slot references, all possible duplicates in a batch may be found. Based on the input vertex index comparisons, the batch pack unit 615 removes duplicates and assigns slot references. The output unit 620 computes the final slot references values for the first slot including a particular input vertex index and references to the duplicates of the particular vertex indices.

FIG. 6B illustrates a block diagram of the index sorting stage 605 of the slot assignment unit 600, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The input vertex index stream 601 is received by the index sorting stage 605 and loaded into an index input register 606. The index input register 606 is configured to store N vertex indices each clock cycle. However, fewer than N vertex indices may be received and stored on any clock cycle. An index history list 607 is configured to store a number (k) of vertex indices to provide the lookback function. Vertex indices received during one or more previous clock cycles are stored in the index history list 607. In some embodiments, 95 vertex indices are stored in order to assemble two batches of up to 32 triangles, each defined by 3 vertex indices. In other embodiments, the number of vertex indices maintained in the index history list 607 may be greater or smaller.

The input vertex indices output by the index input register 606 are entered into the index history list 607. When q input vertex indices are received those input vertex indices are stored into the lowest q positions in the index history list 607 and any previously received input vertex indices are shifted to the higher positions in the index history list 607. Some of the oldest input vertex indices may be shifted out of the index history list 607 to make room for the new input vertex indices. The vertex indices maintained in the index history list 607 are output to the index comparison unit 608 and each one of the (received) input vertex indices is compared with the previous vertex indices in the index history list 607. The length of the index history list is the amount of vertex index lookback supported by the slot assignment unit 600. The comparison of the index history list 607 to the input vertex indices generates k total bits of comparisons per input vertex index shown as history list entry hit/miss for each input vertex index 609. The index input register 606 outputs q input vertex indices, the index history list 607 outputs k vertex indices, and the index comparison unit outputs q history list entry hit/miss values that are each k bits (one bit for each entry in the index history list 607).

Note that the index comparison unit 608 compares the first input vertex index with the previous vertex indices that were received during previous clock cycles and are stored in the index history list 607. Each subsequent input vertex index is compared with the previous vertex indices in the history list 607 and each preceding input vertex index. The comparison operation may be pipelined as needed to meet timing requirements and each input vertex index is compared independently so there is no hit/miss critical path caused by a subsequent input vertex index depending on whether or not a preceding input vertex index is a miss. This allows the vertex index comparison to be fully pipelined. A unique input vertex index's location in the final batch is determined by counting the number of previous unique vertex indices that fit into the batch. Maintaining a count of unique vertex indices included in a batch when assembling the batch becomes the cycle time limiting factor. Since there is a limit to the number of vertex indices and primitives that can be included in a batch, the vertex index count is limited. Because the batch only stores n reference slots for indices (i.e. can handle a total of n indices hits or misses) the history list only needs to be n entries deep to match the packing efficiency of a full associative cache. This also means that a miss or unique vertex index is placed in the batch directly after the previous miss.

In contrast with the index comparison unit 608, a conventional fully associative cache performs a comparison with all cache entries, for a hit (duplicate index found) the location of the hit is stored, and for a miss (no duplicate in the cache) the cache finds a location in which to store the miss. The second vertex index is dependent on the first, the second vertex index needs to compare against the first vertex index and, if the first primitive replaced a cache element or flushed the cache, the second primitive must take that into account for comparisons. If the second primitive matches the first primitive then the location of where the first primitive is stored for the second primitive. If the second primitive is a miss, the cache must figure out where to store the primitive which, in turn, depends on whether the first primitive was a hit or miss. Thus the critical path for each additional vertex index includes the comparison time and miss handling for the additional vertex index and all previous primitives in series. Therefore, a conventional fully associative cache has a critical timing path that increases as the number of input vertex indices increases, hindering the ability of the conventional cache to scale as the number of primitives processed per clock increases. The slot assignment unit 600 does not have this limitation and may scale as the number of input vertex indices increases.

FIG. 6C illustrates a block diagram of the batch unit 610 of the slot assignment unit 600, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The batch unit 610 includes a combine hit/miss results unit 611, a primitive hit/miss unit 612, a previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613, a batch primitive enable mask unit 616, a remove previous batch hit data unit 617, and a hit offset unit 618. The functions performed by the combine hit/miss results unit 611 are to build a hit table per lookback per input vertex index based on the per history list entry hit/miss 609. Each vertex index builds a table of k bits. Bit 0 of the hit table for a particular input vertex index means that with a history list length of 1 vertex index, there is a duplicate vertex index (bit 0=1) or there is not a duplicate vertex index (bit 0=0). Bit 1 means if two previous vertex indices are in the batch, there is a duplicate vertex index (bit 1=1) or there is not (bit 1=0). Based on the table, the primitive hit/miss unit 612 builds per primitive tables of vertex index misses.

The batch primitive enable mask unit 616 uses these per primitive tables to determine, based on the previous number of primitives in the current batch, if the primitive under consideration will fit in the current batch or if a new batch needs to be started. The per primitive tables of vertex index misses may be constructed for every primitive type, e.g., point, line, triangle, patch, and the like. The per-primitive table for a first primitive includes an entry for each possible number of previous primitives. For example, when M (the maximum number of primitives in a batch) is 32, the per-primitive table for the first primitive includes entries for 0 previous primitives, 1 previous primitive, 2 previous primitives, and so on, up to 31 previous primitives. When the primitive type is a triangle, each entry in the per-primitive table includes 3 bits that each indicate whether or not a vertex index defining the primitive is a hit or miss based on the combined hit/miss results for each input vertex index.

The previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613 accumulates the number of misses for each previous primitive—primitive combination to produce an accumulated miss table storing the number of accumulated misses for each primitive in an entry that is accessed using the number of previous primitives in the current batch. Note that for primitive 1 (the second primitive), the misses for 1 previous primitive are added to the misses for 0 previous primitives of primitive 0 (the first primitive) to produce the accumulated misses for primitive 1 with 1 previous primitive. This accumulation technique simplifies the computations performed in the batch primitive enable mask unit 616. More specifically, if primitive 1 fits into the batch open (or not complete) at the beginning of the clock cycle, then the previous primitive must also fit in the current batch. Thus, the calculation of whether a primitive fits in the batch is simplified, since all of the primitive and previous primitive combinations are already accumulated and stored in the accumulated miss table. Importantly, the combine hit/miss results unit 611, primitive hit/miss unit 612 may each be pipelined and have no feedback paths.

Using vertex index and primitive counts on a per primitive basis for each clock cycle, a primitive can be sorted into the current batch or into a new batch, where the inclusion of primitives in the current batch is defined by a primitive batch mask 621 for the current batch that is generated by the batch primitive enable mask unit 616. An entry is selected from the accumulated miss table in the previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613 using the number of primitives already determined to be in the current batch in the previous clock cycle. The number of primitives may be primitives that did not fit in the previous current batch and were used to start a new batch. When the entry selected from the accumulated miss table summed with the number of primitives already in the current batch is greater than N, then the new primitive does not fit in the current batch.

The number of unique vertex indices in each batch is also limited to M. A unique vertex index is the first occurrence of a particular vertex index in the batch. The different values in the entry of the accumulated miss table may be summed in parallel with the number of vertex indices and/or primitives already in the current batch to identify the number of input vertex indices and/or primitives that do fit in the current batch. The number of primitives in the current batch is provided to the previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613 by the batch primitive enable mask unit 616. The batch primitive enable mask unit 616 also outputs a batch primitive mask 621 that specifies a bit for each new primitive defined by the input vertex indices that fit in the current batch. The batch primitive mask 621 for the bit corresponding to a first primitive may be computed as (previous_num_idx+idx_misses_prim0<=M)&&(previous_num_prim+1<=N). Where previous_num_idx is the number of vertex indices from the previous clock cycle in the current batch and previous_num_prim is the number of primitives from the previous clock cycle in the current batch. Idx_misses_prim0 is the number of misses in the accumulated miss table for the first primitive at the entry selected using previous_num_prim.

New primitives defined by the input vertex indices that did not fit in the current batch are included in an open batch. On the next clock cycle, the number of primitives with a batch primitive mask 621 bit cleared (indicating the new primitives that did not fit in the current batch and are in the open batch) is output to the previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613. The previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613 may calculate number of vertex indices in the open batch for the next cycle. During a clock cycle the current batch may be completely assembled and an open batch may be partially assembled. Calculating the number of vertex indices and primitives in the open batch for the next cycle cannot be pipelined. However, the calculations may be implemented using a multiplexor structure with the number of accumulated misses for each primitive from the accumulated miss table in the previous primitive hit/miss accumulation unit 613 as inputs.

In some embodiments, the batch unit 210 may only handle one batch per cycle particularly if only one primitive per clock is processed. In other embodiments, the batch unit 210 may handle two or more batches per clock if the number of input vertex indices per clock is greater than the M vertex indices in a batch. In this case, the batch primitive enable mask unit 616 provides the starting point for the second batch. A third batch may use the vertex index and primitive counts from the second batch and so forth.

The next number of index and primitive finite state machine is summarized in TABLE 1 below assuming that vertex indices defining three primitives are received per clock, where batch0_prims is the batch primitive mask and prim_enables is the enable vector for the input primitives (3′b000 for zero primitives, 3′b001 for one primitive, 3′b011 for 2 primitives, 3′b111 for 3 primitives) 621 for the three primitives. The variables previous_num_idx (number of vertex indices in the current batch at the beginning of the cycle) and previous_num_prim (number of primitives in the current batch at the beginning of the cycle) are both initialized to zero before the first input vertex index is received. Idx_misses_prim(x)_(y)_prev is the number of index vertex misses for the xth new primitive when there are y previous primitives (read from the accumulated hit/miss table for the first primitive).

TABLE 1  case ({batch0_prims[2:0]}) // 1 == primitive goes in current batch, // 0 == primitive goes in next batch.  3′b000: casez (prim_enables[2:0])   3′b000 : previous_num_prim_nxt =    previous_num_prim ; // Nothing enabled.     previous_num_idx_nxt =    previous_num_idx ;   3′b001 : previous_num_prim_nxt = 1 ;     previous_num_idx_nxt =    idx_misses_prim(0)_(0)_prev; // Launch batch    0   3′b011 : previous_num_prim_nxt = 2 ;     previous_num_idx_nxt =    idx_misses_prim(1)_(1)_prev;   3′b111 : previous_num_prim_nxt = 3 ;     previous_num_idx_nxt =    idx_misses_prim(3)_(3)_prev;  3′b001: casez (prim_enables)   3′b000 : // illegal, high batch_mask bits must    correspond to enabled primitives.   3′b001 : previous_num_prim_nxt =    previous_num_prim + 1 ;     previous_num_idx_nxt =    previous_num_idx +    idx_misses_prim(0)_(previous_num_prim)_prev;   3′b01? : previous_num_prim_nxt = 1 ;     previous_num_idx_nxt =    idx_misses_prim(1)_(0)_prev; // Launch batch    0   . . .   3′b111 : previous_num_prim_nxt = 2 ;     previous_num_idx_nxt =    idx_misses_prim(3)_(2)_prev;   . . .  3′b111: casez (prim_enables)   3′b111 : previous_num_prim_nxt =    previous_num_prim + 3 ;    //only legal case for all high batch mask.    previous_num_idx_nxt = previous_num_idx +    idx_misses_prim(3)_(previous_num_prim)_prev  endcase

The previous batch hit data removal unit 617 receives the batch primitive mask 621 from the batch primitive enable mask unit 616 and the k bit wide hit/miss results for each one of the input vertex indices that is output by the combine hit/miss results unit 611. The previous batch hit data removal unit 617 generates a current batch history list. The current batch history list is created by removing (masking) bits corresponding to vertex indices output in previous batches from the history list. The previous batch hit data removal unit 617 also generates a batch vertex index mask 622 indicating which of the input vertex indices are included in the current batch.

The hit offset unit 618 uses the current batch history list to calculate the distance to the earliest duplicate of an input vertex index. The distance is zero when the input vertex index is unique, i.e., not a duplicate of an earlier vertex index in the current batch. The distances are output by the hit offset unit 618 as offsets for vertex indices 623. Note that the actual input vertex indices are not used by the batch unit 610. The input to the batch unit 610 is the per history list entry hit/miss results 609 and the outputs of the batch unit 610 are the batch primitive mask 621, the batch vertex index mask 622, and the offsets for vertex indices 623. The primitive type is an important input that specifies how many indices there are per primitive.

FIG. 6D illustrates a block diagram of the batch pack unit 615 of the slot assignment unit 600, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The batch pack unit 615 includes a miss index reference unit 626, a previous primitives accumulation unit 627, a slot reference unit 628 and a batch assembly unit 629. The miss index reference unit 626 calculates the slot references for the unique vertex indices in each batch. The non-unique indices get a temporary value that is replaced by the actual offset in the slot reference unit 628. The offset of the first vertex index in the batch is zero since that vertex index is unique. The slot reference for the first vertex index on a given cycle is slot_ref(0)=idx_batch_mask[0] ? counter: 0, where the counter is initialized to zero and represents the number of unique indices already in the batch at the beginning of the cycle. Note that the slot reference value is zero if the vertex index is the first vertex index in a batch. idx_batch_mask[0] is the bit of the batch vertex index mask 622 that corresponds to the first vertex index. For subsequent vertex indices the slot reference, slot_ref(x)=previous uniques(x)+(idx_batch_mask[x]? counter: 0). Previous unique(x) is the number of unique vertex indices found in the same batch on the current cycle, i.e., if the first vertex index is unique, previous unique(1) equals 1. If the second primitive is in a different batch, the previous unique(x) for that primitive's first vertex index would be zero as there are no previous duplicates. The next vertex index will get 1 as the first vertex index in a batch is unique, the next vertex index may get 2 or 1 depending on if the second vertex index is unique or not. When at least one new primitive is enabled for output in the batch, the counter for the next clock cycle is computed as the slot reference of the last enabled vertex index in the batch vertex index mask+1 if the last vertex index is unique.

The miss index reference unit 626 pre-calculates the slot reference offset from either the last unique vertex index of the previous clock cycle or from the first unique index of the current vertex index's batch. The previous primitive accumulation unit 627 then adds the pre-calculated value to either a unique vertex index count of the previous clock cycle or zero if a new batch is started.

The slot reference unit 628 removes the duplicate vertex indices for the batch by computing the slot references for the duplicate vertex indices. The batch assembly unit 629 packs the incoming unique vertex indices into groups of less than M vertex indices and packs the slot references into the available slots. The batch assembly unit 619 flushes when the first vertex index of the next batch arrives, or when a flush command is received. The output of the batch assembly unit 629 is one or more batches, e.g., batch 0 640 and batch 1 641, that each include the unique vertex indices for the batch and the slot references and offsets for the non-unique vertex indices.

The output unit 620 of the slot assignment unit 600 builds the final slot reference values, creates the final batch packet(s), and distributes the batches. The offset for a duplicate vertex index calculated in the miss index reference unit 626 is the distance to the unique vertex index that the current vertex index is a duplicate of. The output unit 620 uses the offset to determine the slot reference of the unique vertex index. The slot reference is the final value sent to the work distribution unit 200 for the duplicate vertex index.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of method steps for detecting duplicate vertex indices and batching the vertex indices for parallel primitive processing, according to one embodiment of the present invention. At step 700 the slot assignment unit 600 receives a set of input vertex indices that reference vertex data. At step 705 the index sorting stage 605 inserts the set of input vertex indices into a sequence of previously received vertex indices to update a history list of vertex indices. At step 710 the index sorting stage 605 simultaneously compares each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices with each previously received vertex index in the history list of vertex indices to produce history list hit/miss results. Note that each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices is also simultaneously compared with each preceding input vertex in the set of input vertex indices to produce the history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index. The history list hit/miss results may be accumulated by the combine hit/miss results unit 611.

At step 715 the batch unit 610 generates per-primitive hit/miss results based on the (combined) history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index. At step 720 the batch unit 610 determines the current batch vertex index enable mask that identifies a number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch based on the history list hit/miss results. The batch unit 610 also determines the current batch primitive enable mask.

At step 725 the batch pack unit 615 computes offsets for the vertex indices, where unique vertex indices have an offset of zero. The offsets of duplicate vertex indices are computed to point to the first occurrence of the vertex index. At step 730 the output unit 620 assembles the number of the input vertex indices into slots to produce the batch, where any duplicate input vertex indices reference a slot storing a first instance of the duplicate input vertex. The vertex indices define the primitives in the batch. At step 735 the output unit 620 outputs the batch for processing to produce rasterized pixel data for each primitive defined by the number of input vertex indices in the batch.

The slot assignment unit 600 uses a lookback comparison to break the dependent loop for the miss processing during the parallel comparison operation for the vertex indices. Each vertex index is simultaneously compared to a history list including a number of previous vertex indices (duplicate or not). The duplicate vertex indices are removed to reduce the number of vertex indices used to define the primitives in a batch. If the number of vertex indices supported by the lookback is smaller than the total number of vertex indices required to represent the maximum number of primitives, it is possible that some duplicates may not be detected and removed. For example, if the lookback is 3 and 32 triangles are supported with 3 duplicate vertice indicess, one in the first vertex index in the batch, the second 7 indices away from the first, and the third is 9 indices away from the third, the second one will not detect the first duplicate, but the third one will detect the second. The third vertex will point to the second vertex and there will be duplicate indices in the batch (the second is a duplicate of the first). There are a couple of interesting lookback sizes that are less than the total number of vertex indices required to represent the maximum number of primitives. Specifically, a lookback of six vertex indices supports triangle strips, triangles and lines with adjacency.

One embodiment of the invention may be implemented as a program product for use with a computer system. The program(s) of the program product define functions of the embodiments (including the methods described herein) and can be contained on a variety of computer-readable storage media. Illustrative computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to: (i) non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memory devices within a computer such as CD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROM drive, flash memory, ROM chips or any type of solid-state non-volatile semiconductor memory) on which information is permanently stored; and (ii) writable storage media (e.g., floppy disks within a diskette drive or hard-disk drive or any type of solid-state random-access semiconductor memory) on which alterable information is stored.

The invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments. Persons skilled in the art, however, will understand that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The foregoing description and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for generating a batch specifying multiple primitives defined by vertex indices, comprising: receiving a set of input vertex indices that reference vertex data; inserting the set of input vertex indices into a sequence of previously received vertex indices to update a history list of vertex indices; simultaneously comparing each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices with each previously received vertex index in the history list of vertex indices and each preceding input vertex in the set of input vertex indices to produce history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index; identifying a number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch based on the history list hit/miss results; assembling the number of the input vertex indices into slots to produce the batch, wherein any duplicate input vertex indices reference a slot storing a previous instance of the duplicate input vertex; and outputting the batch for processing to produce rasterized pixel data for each primitive defined by the number of input vertex indices in the batch.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of identifying a number of the primitives defined by the input vertex indices that fit in the batch based on the history list hit/miss results.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of identifying the number of the primitives defined by the input vertex indices fitting in the batch comprises determining that the number of the primitives and any primitives defined by vertex indices that did not fit in a previous batch does not exceed a maximum number of primitives.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating, for each primitive defined by the input vertex indices, hit/miss results based on the history list hit/miss results.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of identifying the number of the input vertex indices comprises producing an accumulated miss table for each primitive defined by the input vertex indices, each accumulated miss table including entries that are accessed using a number of previous primitives that are in the batch.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of computing offsets for the input vertex indices in the batch, wherein unique input vertex indices have an offset of zero.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of calculating a slot reference offset for each duplicate input vertex index corresponding to a previous unique index in the batch that equals the duplicate input vertex index.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch comprises determining that the number of the input vertex indices and any vertex indices that did not fit in a previous batch does not exceed a maximum number of vertex indices.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequence of previously received vertex indices in the history list of vertex indices includes up to the number of vertex indices required for all primitives that fit in the batch.
 10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor generates a batch specifying multiple primitives defined by vertex indices, by performing the steps of: receiving a set of input vertex indices that reference vertex data; inserting the set of input vertex indices into a sequence of previously received vertex indices to update a history list of vertex indices; simultaneously comparing each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices with each previously received vertex index in the history list of vertex indices and each preceding input vertex in the set of input vertex indices to produce history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index; identifying a number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch based on the history list hit/miss results; assembling the number of the input vertex indices into slots to produce the batch, wherein any duplicate input vertex indices reference a slot storing a previous instance of the duplicate input vertex; and outputting the batch for processing to produce rasterized pixel data for each primitive defined by the number of input vertex indices in the batch.
 11. A system for generating a batch specifying multiple primitives defined by vertex indices, the system comprising: a slot assignment unit configured to: receive a set of input vertex indices that reference vertex data; insert the set of input vertex indices into a sequence of previously received vertex indices to update a history list of vertex indices; simultaneously compare each input vertex index in the set of input vertex indices with each previously received vertex index in the history list of vertex indices and each preceding input vertex in the set of input vertex indices to produce history list hit/miss results for each input vertex index; identify a number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch based on the history list hit/miss results; assemble the number of the input vertex indices into slots to produce the batch, wherein any duplicate input vertex indices reference a slot storing a previous instance of the duplicate input vertex; and output the batch for processing to produce rasterized pixel data for each primitive defined by the number of input vertex indices in the batch.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to identify a number of the primitives defined by the input vertex indices that fit in the batch based on the history list hit/miss results.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to determine that the number of the primitives and any primitives defined by vertex indices that did not fit in a previous batch does not exceed a maximum number of primitives to identify the number of the primitives defined by the input vertex indices that fit in the batch.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to generate, for each primitive defined by the input vertex indices, hit/miss results based on the history list hit/miss results.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to produce an accumulated miss table for each primitive defined by the input vertex indices, each accumulated miss table including entries that are accessed using a number of previous primitives that are in the batch.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to compute offsets for the input vertex indices in the batch, wherein unique input vertex indices have an offset of zero.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to calculate a slot reference offset for each duplicate input vertex index corresponding to a previous unique index in the batch that equals the duplicate input vertex index.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the slot assignment unit is further configured to determine that the number of the input vertex indices and any vertex indices that did not fit in a previous batch does not exceed a maximum number of vertex indices to identify the number of the input vertex indices that define primitives fitting in the batch.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the sequence of previously received vertex indices in the history list of vertex indices includes up to the number of vertex indices required for all primitives that fit in the batch. 